Over the years, Ovitrap type containers, such as Ovitraps, have been used and deployed to control mosquitoes. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,983,557 to Perich et al.; 6,185,861 to Perich; and 6,389,740 to Perich et al.; and Zeichner, Brian C. “The lethal ovitrap: a response to the resurgence of dengue and chikungunya”, U.S. Army Medical Journal, July-September 2011. These types of Ovitraps have generally used a paper strip having insecticide that hangs within a cup filled with water up to a series of drain holes. The insecticide strip will hang into the water, with the intention of killing female mosquitoes as they land on the Ovitrap to lay eggs. However, these types of Ovitraps have limitations due to the insecticide on the paper breaking down rapidly because of water contact, and also the trap is not designed to kill larvae.
For example, these traps have lacked the use of a timed release of insecticide, and the water ended up breaking down the insecticide to become ineffective or not killing fast enough to prevent egg laying because of insecticide resistance in the mosquito population. A study in Key West, Fla. that used thousands of Ovitraps ended up producing mosquitoes from these water filled containers. Additionally, the Ovitraps only used an adulticide which was not effective in killing mosquito larvae.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a prior art lethal Ovitrap that uses a strip of paper, P, having insecticide thereon, that hangs into a water, W, filled container, C.
Thus, the need exists for solutions to the above problems with the prior art.